Another celebrity

So I saw another celebrity last night -- at dinner at Bouchon. I guess I just haven't been hanging out in the right places thus far, so now that I'm going to "trendy" places, I'm seeing celebrities. I mean, I don't think I'd ever notice unless someone pointed them out, so I'll probably be oblivious most of the time.

Last night, two tables away from us were Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, and Suri Cruise -- and two assistants or something. Our friend Ravi pointed them out to us (we would never have noticed if not for him). It was fascinating sitting so close to them, but I didn't want to be rude and stare and then be kicked out of the restaurant for bothering the clientele. But I snuck a few discreet looks and here's what I noticed. Katie Holmes is much prettier in person than she is in magazines. Tom Cruise's hair is really really glossy. I don't know what it is, but his hair just seemed really straight and shiny. And Suri was so cute! But that's about all I could gather without being creepy.

On another note, does anyone know how Tom and Katie agreed to give Suri the last name Cruise instead of Holmes or Holmes-Cruise? It looks like Katie still goes by her original (maiden?) last name.

In other news, Restaurant Week continues through the end of the week but the husband and I are going alone so it's unlikely we'll notice any celebrities that may be around. But that's okay -- I'm not jaded yet from seeing too many celebrities, but I also realized that it doesn't make a difference since they just sit and enjoy normal dinners (in public!) like the rest of us.

My first REAL celebrity sighting!

So as I mentioned in a previous post, I went to Nobu for Restaurant Week last night with some friends. The food was good and all that, but the most important and notable part was that I finally got to see a real celebrity up close.

My friend Chetesh nudged me on our way out and said "Hey that's a Lakers player over there." I don't know a lot of Lakers players, but I thought I'd ask which player it was. It turns out it's Pau Gasol, one of the only two Lakers I recognize (the other being Kobe, of course). I didn't recognize him though -- I've only seen a few games, and in those games, he's always running around sweaty with a headband with his hair flopping around. At Nobu, he actually looked like an awkward, pimply 18 year old. Even though I think he's older. And his hair may have been shorter.

Anyway, the point of this ramble is that I finally saw a real celebrity in LA! I'm hoping I'll see a few more during Restaurant Week -- I will keep y'all posted!

Style transformation

I'm so excited to be going out to dinner with one of my college friends that I haven't seen in about a year. And it's DineLA so we can go somewhere fancy and trendy where I hope to see celebrities. And as not to pull a Katsuya, I put a lot of thought into the outfit I am wearing to work and dinner today.

I've been on a neutrals kick -- I've loved all the camel and taupe colors from last fall, and now that they're all on sale, I'm grabbing them up. So I put together a neutral outfit for today, and to keep it interesting, I tried to play with textures and actually wear some jewelry.

The pictures aren't great, but I'm basically warring a creamy pinkish nudish cardigan over a sort of mossy brown lace-overlay tanktop (texture), a shiny khaki skirt (texture), and a light brown suede heel (more texture!!). It's not super flattering with the sweater like that because my waist isn't defined, so I unbuttoned it later in the day, and as long as I don't freeze in the restaurant, I may go cardigan-less for optimum outfit impact.

I actually tried to put some effort into the jewelry as well, and played into the scoopneck of the tanktop by layering a few silver necklaces. I then had to try to find small earrings that coordinated, and luckily one of my friends had given me this tiny silver pair for my birthday one year, and I think it was the right size to balance out the other jewelry.

Here's a close-up shot of all the pieces in the outfit so you can get a better sense of the colors and textures I was trying to use. My lighting is not great and I'm a little jealous of other bloggers that actually set up their cameras and tripods. I've just been too lazy, but perhaps that's a good project for this weekend.

I am really looking forward to adding more neutrals to my wardrobe. Any thoughts on what other pieces might be good?

Also, this was my best attempt at accessorizing, but I'd love more suggestions.

Those Brits

From the Economist on Renault-Nissan...

"This year, the company will launch a largish family saloon (the Fluence) and a small van (the Kangoo be bop). Next year a supermini-sized hatchback (the Zoe) and a wacky, two-seat urban runabout (the Twizy, pictured above) will come to the market."

I know what a van is and what a hatchback is. But what's a family saloon? A place where parents and children can gather to drink? And what's an urban runabout??

Also, I love the name of the van... Kangoo be bop. lol.

DineLA Restaurant Week

DineLA restaurant week is coming up and I am really excited. When I moved to LA, I just missed the last restaurant week so I am looking forward to finally trying some of the famous restaurants I've heard about. Here's where I have reservations so far... we'll see how many I actually make it to before I get sick of eating out.

• Spago - Wolfgang Puck's restaurant - It's supposed to be good; all I'm hoping is that it's better than his airport restaurants.
• XIV by Michael Mina - Michael Mina is a little overrated, but I'm willing to go there for restaurant week.
• Nobu - I keep hearing about it on TV so I really want to go... it's not really vegetarian friendly but I'll find something to eat.
• Gordon Ramsay West Hollywood - I don't know anything about him as a chef, but I love Hell's Kitchen (and I think the food quality here would be more consistent than if I tried to eat at Hell's Kitchen during filming).
• Katsuya - I've already been here (see post here) but I hope to redeem myself by dressing appropriately this time. And it's down the street, so...

And then there's Mr. Chow, which I also keep hearing about on TV. I am hoping to go there for Valentine's Day to cross that off the list too.

Given all this eating out, by the middle of February I think I will be craving spaghetti with Trader Joe's marinara sauce. Or plain white rice.